American Go E-Journal

E-Journal Japan Correspondent John Power catches us up on go events in Japan and international events in which Japanese players took part. Click here (link) for Part 1.

Kita Fumiko Inducted Into Hall Of Fame: At a July 16 meeting at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo, Kita Fumiko, honorary 8-dan, became the first woman to be inducted into the Go Hall of Fame. Kita (1875-1950) was the adopted daughter of the pioneering woman player Hayashi Sano (1825-1901). She became professional 1-dan in 1891 and reached 3-dan in 1895. In the same year, she married the head of the Kita No school, Kita Roppeita, and retired from active play. She made a comeback in 1907 and achieved good results, leading to her being promoted to 4-dan by the Hoensha group in 1911. In 1921 she became the first woman player to reach 5-dan. She played an important role in the founding of the Nihon Ki-in in 1924. She retired from active play and devoted herself to teaching. After her death, she was promoted to 7-dan and then to 8-dan. She is famed as “the mother of women’s go” and had many disciples, one of whom, Sugiuchi Kazuko 8-dan, is still active.

Iyama To Challenge For Meijin Title: After the 38th Meijin League ended in a tie between Iyama Yuta Kisei and Kono Rin 9P, a play-off to decide the challenger to Yamashita Keigo was held on August 5. Iyama drew black and beat Kono by resignation. This win gives Iyama a chance to regain the title that he lost to Yamashita Keigo in 2011. It also means that he will set yet another record by becoming the first player ever to appear in all top-seven title matches in one year. That will also give him a chance to revive the dream of holding all the top seven titles simultaneously (he would need to win all his title matches up to the Kisei next year, then regain the Judan title).

Below is an update of Meijin League results since my last report.
Round 7 (July 18). Yuki Satoshi 9P (B) d. Mizokami Tomochika 8P by half a point. This was the last game in the seventh round and it put an end to Yuki’s losing streak of 16 games over three leagues. His loss made demotion from the league certain for Mizokami; even though he had only one win, as a seeded player he could have retained his league seat if he had won his final two games. Three players, Yuki, Mizokami and Sakai, now had only one win with one round to go, so Murakawa Daisuke, with three wins, became certain of retaining his place.
Round 8 (August 1): As has become the practice in recent years, all the games in the final round were played on the same day, to ensure a dramatic finish. If Cho U won, he would win the league outright and become the challenger. If he lost his game with Kono Rin, Kono would end in a tie for first with the winner of the game between Iyama Yuta and Hane Naoki. Kono Rin 9P (B) d. Cho U 9P by resig; Yuki Satoshi Judan (B) d. Takao Shinji 9P by resig; Murakawa Daisuke 7P (B) d. Mizokami Tomochika 8P by resig; Iyama Yuta Kisei (B) d. Hane Naoki 9P by resig.
The final order in the league was: 1st, Iyama 6-2; 2nd: Kono 6-2; 3rd Cho U 6-
2; 4th Hane 5-3; 5th Takao Shinji 5-3; 6th Murakawa 4-4. Yuki (2-6), Mizokami
(1-7), and Sakai Hideyuki 8P (1-7) lost their places.
In an interview after the play-off, Iyama said that he was lucky. He was not
just being modest. When he was beaten by Cho U in the seventh round (actually the sixth round for Cho, his score was 5-2 compared to Cho’s 6-0, so his prospects didn’t look very good. Fortunately for him, other players managed to defeat Cho in his last two games. This is an example of relying on “tariki” (the strength of others) instead of “jiriki” (one’s own strength). It worked for Iyama.